Why Quality Assurance Tester is An Exciting Career

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Have you ever been at a crossroads and thinking of a career change? Are you still looking for the right path? The tech industry may have the answer as it offers many exciting and life-changing careers.


We live in a time when technology is bursting from innovation, new fields are opening and old ones are modernizing at a rapid pace. In accordance with that, there are many interesting and thriving roles you could explore and try out. Each and everyone has a different career path and skills set with a wide space for growth. A tester role could be just what you were looking for.

People often stumble on this path by accident. Some switch from development. Some are simply looking for a change. Whatever the reason, you are in the right place. Being a tester is a very rewarding career. It challenges you to think outside the box, find new ways and solutions, and be extremely creative. But what does it take to become a tester?

What does it take?

There is a set of common skills in the testing industry that are in demand and they include curiosity, adaptation to constant change, analytical mind, eagerness to learn and communication. Depending on which position you are aiming for you may be asked to have a bachelor’s degree in computer science or engineering.  Even if you don’t have a college degree, it is possible to get a job in testing with direct, hands-on experience in the field.

Besides the soft skills and formal degree, there are other skills that are good to have and you should develop. These skills include:

  • Preparation and reviewing of test plans, cases, scripts, data, and test results to discover the level of effectiveness of test strategy and procedures
  • Documentation, tracking, and reporting of test results, bugs, and other quality metrics
  • Results, processes, and strategies analysis
  • Using various bug tracking systems and tools
  • Learning and understanding of different methodologies such as Lean or Agile as well as various testing environments
  • It is beneficial to know programming languages such as JavaScript, Java, or Python and use it to create an automation suite and optimize testing efforts where possible
  • Getting certified as a tester and continuously developing other skills can increase testers’ credibility and visibility with potential employers. As technologies constantly change it is important to follow trends, seek out new ways of working and learn new things.
  • Client communication and support from a quality assurance tester during the testing phase could make things much easier for both sides. A client receives direct support from an experienced tester who knows the product by heart. If needed, a client is also supported during the testing of a single feature and/or the testing of the completely developed product.

Sense of pride

Quality assurance testers are usually part of the team dedicated to a specific project. They have an important role in website, application or software development. As quality assurance experts they support testing in all stages of a product life cycle, such as planning, analysis, development and post-launch activities. Testers find and report bugs, performance issues as well as various visual discrepancies that can be determined by comparing results with technical documentation and specifications, wireframes and design. Following the test plan and strategy, they perform different kinds of testing including acceptance, functional, non-functional, and change related testing using various techniques. Some of the most used techniques include ad hoc and perspective based for reviews, and black box, white box and experience-based for testing.

It is vital that a final product corresponds to a certain level of usability and quality criteria established during the planning phase with all stakeholders. Every day when a customer uses a program, software or an app they can see the quality of the work and the company’s investment in testing. Testing brings many benefits that can be recognized by putting all parts together in forms of client and customer satisfaction, increased exposure and visibility, increased ROI, etc. It is a connected network of users and customers, vendors, and companies that benefit in different ways from a good quality product. Remember, buggy software or application leads to customer disappointment, increased need for tech support, increased purchase cancellation or refund requests and possible bad reviews. Regardless if a company uses Scrum, Agile or any other framework that suits best for a certain project, quality is the king – today more than ever.

Quality assurance tester

Is it worthy to become a tester? The answer is – yes! Why? That feeling when the software, application or website you’ve worked on finally goes live, and you remember all the times you’ve found bugs, made it crash, drove developers crazy as they thought they were done, and managers waiting for the green light. You made a difference in creating the best possible product for the client, users, resellers and every other person who will ever come in contact with it. You have left a mark in the digital world!

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